Authors: Jennifer Kitt
“Nah. It’s something and nothing.”
“Come on. If they’re threatening you, you really need to report it.”
“It’s not so serious. Just some crazy person. Probably a rival rider on the circuit. Trying to scare me.”
“Do you think so?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“You have any idea who it is?”
“Could be almost anybody.”
“You’re not going to just ignore it, though?”
“Who knows? If it gets worse, I might do something. But they’ll probably get bored eventually, and give up. Best to just ignore it.” He handed a cup of coffee to Melissa. “There. Drink that. You’ll feel better.”
She sipped the hot coffee and sat down on a stool. “You got any enemies?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Do you think it’s related to that person in the woods today.”
“No. Of course not. They would have had to follow us out there. I didn’t see anyone following us. Did you?”
“No. But you never know.”
“Look. It’s just some creep. Let’s go to bed.”
“Okay.”
They switched off the lights downstairs and went up to the bedroom.
Melissa woke with a start. She looked at the clock. Three-fifteen. She listened carefully. Was that breaking glass she’d heard or had she been dreaming? She looked at Zack. He was right next to her. Fast asleep. She listened again. She heard a scraping sound. She was right. There was something, and it was coming from downstairs. She felt panic overcome her, and took a deep breath. She shook Zack.
“What…what is it?” he said, still half asleep.
“There’s someone downstairs.”
“What?”
“There is someone in the house, Zack.”
“I didn’t hear anything?”
“You were asleep. I heard it. Someone smashed the window.”
Zack pulled himself to his feet. “I’ll go down and take a look.”
“Have you got a gun?”
“Yeah. But it’s downstairs?”
“You don’t keep it upstairs?”
“No.”
“Don’t go down.”
“I’ll be okay.”
“If they’ve got a gun…”
“It’s probably just the wind or something. Maybe I left the window open.”
Zack opened the bedroom door and sneaked to the top of the stairs. He stood still and listened. Nothing. He waited for a minute or two, and then crept as quietly as he could downstairs.
Melissa, got dressed quickly, and looked around the room to see if there was anything she could use to defend herself.
Zack reached the bottom of the stairs and checked the front door. Locked. He headed for the kitchen took a look around. Everything seemed okay. He turned around to go to the lounge when he heard something. Heavy breathing coming from the dining area. It was then that he noticed that one of the windows opening out on to the back yard was broken. The curtain moving slightly in the breeze.
“Anybody there?”
No reply.
“Is someone there?”
“There’s someone here, Zack,” said a voice coming from the corner of the room. “Put the light on.”
Zack flicked the light switch near the door, his eyes closing in reaction to the brightness of the light.
“Didn’t expect this, did you Zack?”
“Who is that?”
The figure stepped out from behind the alcove wall, clad entirely in black, a ski-mask over their face, a gun pointing at Zack.
He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “What do you want?”
“Don’t you know?”
“No.”
“Come on. Don’t you know who it is?”
“No.”
“Maybe if I speak in my proper voice,” said the figure, pulling a piece of cloth from behind the ski mask, and lifting the mask off of their face.
“Jenna.”
“Of course it’s fucking me, Zack. Maybe you thought it was going to be one of your other lady friends. You’ve got so fucking many of them. Including that bitch upstairs.”
“What the hell is this about?”
“You used me Zack,” said Jenna. “You fucked me every time you were in town at the Rodeo. You even told me you fucking loved me. And then you’d leave and go chasing after one of your other little whores.”
“Shit, Jenna. I never told you I loved you. You were just…”
“Just what? Just another buckle bunny you thought you could fuck whilst you were in town. Someone who’d go out partying with you for a few days. Cook you a nice meal. Stop you getting lonesome on the road.”
“We had some good times, but you can’t have thought…”
“Don’t tell me what to think, fucker,” said Jenna. “You used me, and fucked me, and made me feel cheap. Like some whore. And then you dumped me and took up with the bitch upstairs.”
“I didn’t think…”
“Fucking shut up, Zack. The time for talking is over. I’m gonna teach you and your girlfriend a real lesson. I should have finished you both off earlier.”
“Earlier?”
“At the springs. Or in the woods, when you were fucking her against the tree.”
“That was you?”
“That was me.”
“Don’t do anything stupid, Jenna. Put the gun down.”
“Are you scared, Zack?”
“No.”
“Same macho bullshit,” said Jenna. “You oughta be.”
“Just put the fucking gun down.”
“Don’t tell me what to do, and don’t swear at me Zack. You should have more respect. If you’d respected me before, none of this would be happening now. You and me would be sleeping peacefully in our bed. And the whore upstairs would be standing on whichever street corner it was you picked her up on.”
“We can talk about..”
“We’re not gonna talk about anything, Zacky. I’m just gonna help us all get some peace of mind.”
“What do you mean?”
There’s no happiness in this world, Zack. It’s the next one we can all look forward to.”
“Don’t go saying stuff like that, Jenna.”
“Fuck off, Zack,” screamed Jenna. “Just fuck off. I know what I’m saying. And I know what I’m doing. Now kneel down, Zack.”
“I’m not kneeling down.”
“Do it Zack.”
“You’re bluffing.”
Jenna pulled the trigger and shot at Zack.
Zack let out a scream, and he collapsed to the floor, holding his leg. Blood spurted out of the entry wound and began to flow onto the floor, staining the tiles red. “You fucking shot me.”
“I told you I’d do it,” said Jenna. “But don’t worry. You won’t feel any pain in a minute or two. I’m gonna put you down like they do to those injured horses at the rodeo. Save you from any suffering.”
“Please Jenna…”
She stepped closer to him and looked down at him on the floor. The big cowboy didn’t appear so tough now. She pointed the revolver at him.
Melissa had heard everything. She was terrified. Thoughts raced through her mind.
What should she do? Could she find Zack’s gun? Was Zack still alive? She didn’t want to die. Fuck. She just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry.
She thought about lowering herself out of the bedroom window into the back garden. But if she did that, she’d be leaving Zack. Leaving him to die. She couldn’t do it. She had to try and help him.
She scouted around the bedroom one more time, looking for something. Anything. She picked up one of Zack’s leather belts from the floor. It had a heavy buckle. It was something. She looked around the bathroom, and grabbed an item from the shelf.
Jenna stood over Zack and aimed. She was finding it tougher than she’d imagined to take the killer shot. All these months she’d been thinking about it. Imagining every second of it. It had been easy to do in her mind. Now, with him lying on the floor like a wounded animal, it was so much harder. It wasn’t that she had any real sympathy for him any more. It was just difficult to kill someone. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, reminded herself that Zack would be going to a better place. And she’d be following him there soon. Then they could be together. Forever. She’d just sort out the bitch upstairs first. She’d be going to hell. Who cared about her?
She felt her resolve strengthen again. She would do it now. Quickly. Cleanly. She opened her eyes, briefly catching site of Zack, before suddenly feeling her eyes start to burn.
Melissa sprayed the anti-perspirant into Jenna’s face, and then quickly darted to the side, out of the line of fire. She wrapped one end of the leather belt around her hand and swung the buckle end at Jenna. “Take that, Bitch.”
Jenna reeled back in shock, and let off a round from the gun. The bullet slammed into one of the kitchen cupboards.
Melissa swung the belt again and again at Jenna, whipping her face with the heavy buckle. Drawing blood.
Jenna didn’t know what hit her. She was in shock. She couldn’t see properly, and she could feel blood flowing down from her forehead and into her eyes. She pointed the gun in front of her and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the door.
Melissa dived forward and grabbed the gun in Jenna’s hand. Jenna lunged to try and head butt Melissa, but she couldn’t aim properly, almost blinded now.
Melissa wrestled the gun from Jenna and threw it towards the door. She swung her body back, and then came crashing forward, her fist slamming into Jenna’s face. Her nose shattered with a crack, and she fell backwards onto the floor. She was out cold.
Melissa checked Zack. He was still alive, but he was losing a lot of blood. She picked up the phone and dialled 911, frantically giving some scant details and the house address to the operator.
She picked the gun off the floor and checked how many bullets were left. She kneeled down by Zack, keeping one eye on Jenna, and waited for the emergency services to arrive.
Chapter Six
Melissa walked into the hospital room and put the food and books she was carrying onto a side table. Zack was sitting up in bed watching TV.
“How you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been shot?”
“Leg still hurting?”
“Yeah,” said Zack. “But the pain killers are keeping it manageable.”
“Have the doctor’s told you when you can go home?’
“In a few days. They just want to keep me in for a while. I lost quite a lot of blood.”
“Do you remember it all.”
“The beginning. But it’s all a bit of a blur after I was shot. Think I went in to some type of shock. You gonna tell me what happened now.”
“I’ll tell you when you’re out of hospital.”
“What happened to Jenna?”
“She’s in the County Jail at the moment,” said Melissa, pouring Zack a glass of water. “You going to tell me about her.”
“Not much to tell, really. She was someone I knew when I was on the road. We used to get together now and again.”
“She thought it was more serious than that?”
“I guess so.”
“Did you have feelings for her?”
“I liked her. But I didn’t love her, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“I guess she misunderstood the relationship.”
“Yeah. I don’t particularly feel good about myself for that. It’s just something you get up to when you’re on the road. When you’re young. You know what I mean?”
“Yeah. But not everyone can be so casual about these things. Some folks take things real seriously.”
“Relationships?”
“Sometimes a girl wants to feel loved. Especially if she meets a guy she really likes. It’s hard to limit your feelings. She wants something more than just a good time.”
Zack nodded. “And you?”
“What about me?”
“You need something more?”
“It would be nice. You think you got something more to give.”
Zack scratched his head, He never felt particularly at ease talking about emotional stuff. Not unless he was backed into a corner. And that’s where he found himself now. There was no escaping from his hospital bed. Not with his leg in the state it was. “Yeah. I’ve got something more to give. For the right woman.”
“You met her yet?” asked Melissa.
“I think so,” said Zack.
“Anybody I know?”
“She’s sitting right by the side of my bed.”
“Oh. I see,” said Melissa, breaking into a mile-wide smile, and leaning over to kiss Zack.
The End
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